Bruins-Capitals quick-hitters: Jarome Iginla, Chad Johnson lead way to division title

Saturday

Mar 29, 2014 at 3:28 PMMar 29, 2014 at 3:30 PM

A few quick-hitters on the Bruins' 4-2 win over the Capitals on Saturday at the Verizon Center.

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

A few quick-hitters on the Bruins' 4-2 win over the Capitals on Saturday at the Verizon Center.

ATLANTIC ROAD: The Bruins claimed the Atlantic Division title behind a pair of goals from red-hot Jarome Iginla as well as a clinching score by the also scorching Patrice Bergeron.

The victory ensures Boston will have home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the postseason. The Bruins have a nine-point lead on the Penguins for the lead atop the Eastern, and a one-point gap on the Blues entering St. Louis' game at Dallas tonight.

The Bruins controlled the first period and blew it open with three goals in 5:28 in the second, Iginla's goals wrapped around a score by Carl Soderberg.

Bergeron had a power-play goal in the third to make it 4-1, giving Bergeron six straight games with a goal. That extends his career-long run and is the longest by the team since Phil Kessel had a six-gamer in 2008-09.

Chad Johnson made 31 saves to move to 17-3-1. Johnson stood tall when Washington pushed early in the third period to make it a game.

The Bruins extended their overall points streak to 15 games (14-0-1) and tied a franchise record with their 15th straight road game of collecting points. They're 12-0-3 in the white jerseys since Jan. 11.

Washington could not jump into one of the two wild card spots and now has eight games remaining, still tied with Columbus and Detroit but trailing in tiebreakers.

BART OUT: Defenseman Matt Bartkowski was out of the lineup. Andrej Meszaros returned after missing two games.

Meszaros played 29 shifts for 21:09. He replaced Reilly Smith as the point man on the No. 2 power-play unit. Meszaros also committed a bad holding-the-penalty in the third at the end of a rough shift.

Bartkowski had a mediocre game against the Blackhawks on Thursday. He took a bad angle on his first shift and had to hold Patrick Sharp to prevent a scoring chance. He also was caught flat-footed later. It wasn't quite the complete disaster his performance against the Wild was the week before, but it wasn't impressive for a player who is in competition for a playoff lineup spot.

So this healthy scratch may have had more to do with cycling Meszaros back into the configuration for the first time in a week, than when Bartkowski was held out of the March 18 game at New Jersey. With eight games remaining, Bartkowski's habit for inconsistency has cropped back up though.

HOT IGGY: With two more goals, Jarome Iginla continued his ridiculous run through March. A 12-goal month has pushed the 36-year-old to another 30-goal season -- his 12th straight in non-lockout seasons -- and 560 goals, tying him with Guy Lafleur for 24th on the all-time list. He's the team's first 30-goal scorer since Milan Lucic in 2010-11.

An interesting side note -- Iginla became the Bruins' first 30-goal scorer who join the team via free agency. As noted by WEEI.com's DJ Bean, the last player to join the team via trade or free agency and score 30 goals was Glen Murray, who rejoined the Bruins via trade and did it three times.

All of Iginla's goals seem to come in different ways. His first came on a mini-breakaway snap shot early in the second. This is maybe the distinctive Iginla goal, that quick all-world release where he finds a spot to beat the goalie. Then his second was a rebound finish, jumping into the crease to backhand one past Braden Holtby.

POWER BACK: After going on the power play just 20 times during their 12-game win streak that ended Monday, the Bruins lost the flow on their man-advantage. It was hard to stay in a rhythm when the chances weren't there.

They got six power plays Monday against the Canadiens and scored on the sixth one, then converted 2-of-4 Saturday. Both goals came in around the net, Soderberg deflecting a Milan Lucic shot in the second and then Bergeron converting a Soderberg feed through the crease in the third.

TOP STICK: Loui Eriksson picked up one assist on Iginla's first goal, but his best contributions came in the defensive zone.

Eriksson twice broke up Washington scoring chances by having a strong stick right on the ice. The winger may have the best stick on the team, or at least right up there with Bergeron.

After his second play in the third, Eriksson braced himself in time to avoid injury when Alex Ovechkin charged him. Ovechkin got Eriksson around the chest, but with Eriksson's concussion history, Zdeno Chara confronted Eriksson right away. Ovechkin was called for the penalty and the Bruins scored on the power play, killing the Caps' comeback chances.

Follow @DanCagen

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